Melody of Envy
by NerdyNekoGirl
Summary: Envy x OC fic. Two years after the Elrics disappeared, Envy is left alone with no reason to live and no way to die. That is, until he meets Melody, a runaway who wants to start over. Melody seems like a sweet girl...but a heavy darkness lurks inside of her.
1. Chapter 1

"Mr. Henry," Melody said calmly as she came in from school, "I'm back."

"Come in here," he answers back in a slurred voice. _He's been drinking,_ she thought, _Maybe if I just do what he says he won't get too angry._ She slowly walked into the kitchen, still in her school uniform. Melody had been living with Henry and his wife since she was 9. She was adopted from a cruel orphanage into an equally cruel home. In 16 years, the happiest memory that she can think of was how she felt when she was finally adopted before she was aware of the second hell that she was being taken to.

Henry drank heavily and often beat Melody and his wife had a stressful but well-paying job and took out most of her anger on Melody by treating her like a slave.

When she got to the kitchen, she was greeted with a hit to the face. She lay dazed on the floor trying to catch her breath from when she landed flat on her stomach as glass shattered from the liquor bottle.

"You stupid bitch," he said, "You were dumb enough to leave your arms exposed for apparently most of this week, and now I have the school calling asking why you have so many bruises." Henry stomped over to her in his heavy boots, "We pay all this money for you to go to a private school and you've been living with us for seven damn years!" Melody tried to push herself up, but a hard stomp came on her back, "Do I need to teach you yet another lesson?"

Henry kept stomping on Melody threatening to crush her. Melody began to cry out from pain, but Henry kept going, "Don't cry to me, I wouldn't have to do this if you had just dealt with the pain and kept it hidden like a good daughter." Melody began to cough up some blood, "And now, you're gonna stain the floor!"

_We wouldn't be in this situation if you weren't always beating on me,_ Melody thought to herself, _I'm not a daughter to you, just some punching bag. Well I quit!_ Melody reached out and found a broken tile still in the ground. She ignored the pain as she carved an alchemic array into her forearm. Melody then froze the blood and pointed her arm behind her, sending the blood spears to Henry's face. He staggered back off of her and and fell clutching his face. Melody got up slowly on her hands and knees and everything went black.

When Melody came to, she was holding a long blood-smeared object and Henry was face down on the floor. Melody dropped the object. _Did I kill him? Oh my God , what did I do?_ She remembered alchemically making the object from the floor tile and a sinister voice saying "Why don't you drop dead, you sick bastard?" _Did I say that?_ A voice in the back of her mind was egging her on. _Kill him now, make him pay for all he's done to you!_

She bent down to touch his neck. He was alive. But I won't be when he wakes up, _I have to leave, to start over._ Melody dumped out everything from her school bag and went to the safe under the floor tile. She grabbed as much cash as she could then went to her room to take anything of value. She then went to Henry's closet to pack any of his wife's clothes that she could then ran from the house as fast as she could.

* * *

Envy laid in the alley still in cat's form. After Dante's failure at making a Philosopher's Stone 2 years ago, he had nowhere to go. The other homunculi were dead, except for Gluttony who was now even more of a mindless eating machine thanks to Dante. He returned the favor by eating her before she could make an escape. This all happened while Envy was at the Gate with Edward Elric. He couldn't make it through though, and he instead woke up in the mansion alone.

Now, the Elrics were long gone so he no longer had anything to live for, but he couldn't die so he was just sitting in the pouring rain.

Then the girl just ran into the alley. She had silver hair and wore a school uniform with a blue blazer and black pleated skirt. She had knee-high lace-up black boots and her hair was in a side ponytail. The girl sat down to catch her breath.

_She could be interesting,_ Envy thought, seeing the bruise on her cheek.

Melody at the time was looking through her bag and checking her supplies. _A lot of money, my old journal, random clothes, and my music box._ Melody took out the small box that could fit in her palm and opened it. The song began to play [A/N: The song is a music box version of Naraku no Hana from the Higurashi series].

_Definitely a runaway,_ thought Envy. He walked to her, still in cat form. "You know, your gonna get sick sitting in an alley in the rain," he told her.

Melody was startled by the sudden voice. She looked at the dark green cat with wide deep purple eyes. "Hi," said Envy-cat. _She'll be fun to mess with,_ he thought seeing the look on the girl's face.

"I'm losing my mind," Melody said to him, "First I black out and try to kill my foster father, then I run away and steal his money, and now a green cat is talking to me."

"So that's your story," Envy-cat says. He takes a seat next to Melody.

"Since my sanity is completely gone and I'm now talking to a cat, my name's Melody."

"I'm Envy. And since you told me your story I'll tell you mine, think of it as equivalent exchange."

_I am crazy,_ Melody thought, _Only I'd imagine a cat that knows alchemy's main law_.

Envy cleared his throat the best way a cat could. "I wanted revenge on this one man and his family for most of my life. But then, the whole family died without me doing it and now I have nothing to live for since I never accomplished my goal and it now can never be accomplished. But I can't die, so there's nothing left for me to do except for chat with you."

"I guess that's the same as me," Melody told Envy, "All my life, my goal was to get away from my life and start over, but some things happened and I had to go before I could graduate or go to college and now I'm a runaway, sitting in an alley talking to an imaginary cat, in the pouring rain."

"How do you know that you're crazy?" Envy asked her, "How do you know that I'm not a real talking cat?"

"You know alchemy's #1 law, only a crazy alchemist like me would imagine a green cat named Envy that knew that," she answered. Envy then saw the array carved into her forearm. Then Melody started giggling.

"What's so funny?" Envy asked her annoyed. _Maybe she really is nuts._

"I just thought about your name," she said still giggling, "You're green and your name is Envy."

"So?"

"Ever hear the saying 'Green with Envy?'" Envy thought about this. And he couldn't help but let his mind wander on how cute Melody was when she smiled. Embarrassed, he strides off.

"What's wrong?" asks Melody.

"I don't like being laughed at so imagine me walking away or whatever," he says. No answer. He turned back to see Melody's eyes slowly closing and her falling to his side. Envy turned back to his usual green-haired boy form and caught her before she could completely hit the floor.

"I told you sitting out in the rain would get you sick," he reminds her. She was burning up.

Melody began to slowly open her eyes. "Did you just turn into a boy?"

"Yeah," Envy answered, "And you should go home. I saw all that money you had, your parents will probably forgive you to save their reputation so you can go home, graduate, get a rich job, and never see them again in a few years."

"No!" Melody shot up and grabbed Envy, "Please don't take me back there, I'm begging you. I won't last another day..." She was crying and begging to not be sent back. Melody used up the last of her energy and collapsed in Envy's arms again.

"You're lucky I have nothing better to do," Envy mutters before picking her up, Melody winced once he touched her, Envy tried his best to be more gentle. He shoved her music box into her bag and took it with him on his way to the closest hotel.

* * *

Envy took off Melody's blazer and boots then tucked her into the hotel bed. She had probably just worn herself out from running in the rain and needed some rest. He had paid for the hotel room using the money Melody stole. While he had been in her bag, he found a small book with _Melody_ written on the first page. Her journal. He knew that he shouldn't read a girl's journal, but judging by the bruises on her neck and face and the scars all over her, he knew that her journal would contain some interesting stuff and he had nothing better to do. Envy took a seat at the desk next to her bed and opened to the first entry from 7 years ago.

_My name is Melody. I found this book in a closet at the orphanage. The only reason I'm writing in it is so if I die here, there will be proof that it was from abuse and neglect and not from whatever they say I died from. I've given up on being adopted, I've lived here all my life and I'm 9 now. Apparently I was found on the doorstep with no note, just a music box; that's why they called me Melody. Most of the kids here tease me because of my hair and the fact that I've been here all my life and no one wants me. They can still remember their parents and how they were before they died and how much they were loved unlike me. In all honesty, they're miserable too and want to find someone worse off than themselves. I was just unlucky enough to be that scapegoat( it's a real word, I learned it in the classes)._

Envy read on about how the orphanage workers abused them, how happy she was when she was adopted, and the abuse she received living with Henry ; she only got to write about once or twice a month so it took over 7 years to almost fill. As Envy read, the urge to find her foster father and beat him to death grew; he hadn't felt this way since the Elrics were still alive. He read about how she learned alchemy from the books in Henry's library and all the notes she had taken in the book. The last entry was from several days ago saying that Henry's wife had left on a business trip and how her foster father had began beating her even more than usual. At this point, Melody had woken up but Envy was too absorbed in the book to notice. But Melody noticed the tattoo on his leg.

"An ouroborous?" she whispered aloud, at least loud enough for Envy to hear. "So I'm not crazy because you're really a homunculous, not a cat."

Envy was confused by her reasoning, "So you won't believe in talking cats, but you'll believe that an immortal artificial person is sitting next to you, reading your journal?"

"It would explain how you could talk and how you knew alchemy's law," Melody replied , "And how you changed from a cat to a boy and why you say you can't die. Since you've read my journal, I guess you know everything now." Melody tried to sit up but winced feeling the pain in her back and ribs.

"Don't try to exert yourself too much, you're lucky that your ribs aren't broken after that, you got away with a lot of bruises all over your back."

"He was stomping on my back," Melody said, "I was afraid that he was really going to kill me this time."

"That must have been when you tried to kill him. So why didn't you after all the hell he put you through? Equivalent exchange."

Melody looked Envy in the eye when she answered, "There was a part of me that wanted to real bad, so much that it scared me. But I knew that that wasn't me, that I couldn't take a life, not even his. Besides, like I said I've always wanted to leave my past behind and start over; it would be a lot harder for me to do so with something like that over my head and I'm sure that with their money, the police would believe them more than me. Killing him would have never worked out for me."

"So what are you going to do now?" Envy asked, "Other people besides them will wonder what happened to you, like the people from your school or town."

"I doubt that, my town was really big so it would be hard to notice if one girl went missing and my foster parents were rich and important so if they did notice, they'd believe any lie that they were told. Most people actually believe that most of the injuries I got were because I was just a klutz."

"And the kids from your school?"

Melody had a sad look in her eyes that she tried to hide by looking down. "The girls in my school didn't like me much. They were always teasing me for being so shy saying that I thought I was better than everyone because my parents were so important and they thought that I was lying about my hair and eye color being natural and that it looked ugly. I'm actually glad to have left early. There was nothing left in that life for me." She smiled again at him.

It seemed to Envy that everyone in Melody's life had hated her deeply when he hadn't even known her for a day and she was already the only human he's liked since he was human himself. He had to admire her will to go on and create a new life while many would end theirs then and there. Envy would have himself if he could.

"What about you? You said that you had nothing to live for either." The question caught Envy off guard. He didn't expect anyone to actually care.

"I already told you, I'm a homunculous not a human like you."

"So?" Melody couldn't understand his answer.

Her innocence amused him."I'm a homunculous, I don't have a soul. I'm nothing more than a representation of Envy, a doll."

"What do you mean you don't have a soul? You could have fooled me." Melody blushed and gave Envy a small smile, "I've only known you for a day and you're the closest thing to a friend I've had, you're the only person I know who doesn't hate me."

_What's with this girl?_ Envy thought to himself, he got up suddenly, his face stone. He put his hand on Melody's forehead, "Your fever's gone down but, you should still get some rest. Go back to bed."

"But you didn't answer my question," Melody protested, "Are you going to be OK?"

"Worry about yourself," he said flatly. Envy took his hand away from Melody's head and walked to the door. He looked back to Melody for a second to say, "And whoever told you you're not pretty is a jealous bitch that's not even worth your time. Trust me, I know."

Envy morphed into a brown haired man and walked down the hallway. How can she seriously be so naive after all she's been through? It annoyed him, he couldn't remember the last time someone treated him like a... human. Even after they knew that he wasn't one.

"That girl completely trusted a total stranger, who knows what could have happened if she had found someone else." Envy stopped abruptly in front of the elevator. _Who knows what will happen if I leave her alone,_ he thought. "She's not my problem," Envy pushed the elevator button and waited.

_"What about you?"_ The words echoed in his head along with those sweet, yet determined purple eyes. _I wasn't her problem, but she still cared._ Melody was still in the room alone. "Just checking on her wouldn't hurt." The elevator doors opened, but Envy was already halfway to the room.

The room was dark and quiet when Envy got to it. Melody was sleeping peacefully on her side. Envy ran his hand through the brown hair, "Why am I getting so worked up over her?" He walked over to her bedside, Melody didn't even stir. Envy pushed back a strand of silver hair, making Melody grunt and lean into the touch.

"Envy..." she murmured, lifting a hand to touch his, "Please, don't go yet."

* * *

**So, I (very obviously) do not own FMA. I am not getting paid for this, though I wish I were, that would be awesome. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this fic, please review and even fav if you want. I will be back with the next chapter...eventually.**

**-NerdyNekoGirl**


	2. Chapter 2

He had a strange look in his eyes that Melody couldn't place. He began slowly getting closer to her as he talked. Melody had only asked him if he'd seen her friend, she got a strange feeling from him and wanted to get away fast. Then a hand grabbed her wrist and when she figured out who it was, she instantly became relieved.

"Let's go Melody," Envy said sternly.

The man gave him a glare, "You know you shouldn't leave your friend out on the streets by herself."

"Well, I'm back now and we'll be going," Envy gave him an even harsher glare that made the man give in and back off of Melody. Envy then dragged her away by the wrist. "Do I need to keep a lease on you?" he asked annoyed. The question brought images to his mind that he quickly pushed away.

"I'm sorry," Melody apologized, "I'm not used to crowds and I didn't know what else to do." That, and I knew that something like that would get you to come out of hiding, she thought sneakily to herself.

Envy couldn't stay mad at her for some reason, "That's why I'm here; you're too naive so just stay with me and don't wander off." It had been Melody's third day on her own they were currently at the market, she needed to eat after all. Melody wore a grey sweater that was somewhat big and hung off her shoulders and her black school skirt and black knee-high boots, her hair was out and reached down her back and she had her school bag on her back. Envy wore a white buttoned shirt and his hair was tied back.

Suddenly, angry shouts could be heard up ahead. "What's going on?" Melody asked.

"Sounds like a thief or something," answered Envy. His guess was right, soon a young girl no more than 13 can into view running and jumping from roof top to roof top with a bag in her hands. Things were thrown at her, but she either dodged or caught them. Then she jumped down next to Melody and Envy and continued to run. She ran out of view laughing and somewhat enjoying herself.

"Damn thief," said the shopkeeper near them, "nothing thrown at her even fazes her and she always disappears as if she can walk through walls."

This can't be good, thought Envy, This can't be some normal thief.

"Envy, are you okay?" Melody asked snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Melody, I don't think that that thief is just a thief."

"What do you, Ah!"

"What's wrong?" Envy asked slightly worried.

"My bag! I swear I just had it before..., did she take it? How did she even manage that?!" Melody began running in the direction the thief had gone in.

Envy ran after her, but Melody still stayed ahead, she was a fast runner. Melody ran into the same alley that the thief had gone in but hit a dead end.

"What the hell?" said Envy catching up to her, "I told you not to run off."

"I know she ran in here," Melody murmured almost ignoring him, "We need that bag, it has my music box and all of our money."

"Well we'll probably never see her again unless we-"

"Wait," Melody cut him off, "Listen."

The song from Melody's music box could be heard in the alley. Melody put her ear to the wall in front of them where it seemed to be coming from. "She's in there." Melody picked up a stone and carved an array into the wall. She touched it and made the wall crumble before them.

The old building was small and in the middle of it sat the girl with a bag of stuff and Melody's music box in her hands opened and playing.

"How the hell'd you do that?!" she asked. The girl had messy long black hair and deep green eyes. She wore a red skirt and blue vest over a white long-sleeved shirt.

"It's alchemy," Melody answered. The girl had a questioning look on her face. "You've never heard of it?" she asked. The girl shook her head, "How?"

"Simple," Envy butted in, "She probably hasn't been alive for long."

"What do you mean? She looks 13," Melody said, then it hit her, "You're not saying..." Envy nodded.

"What?! What's he saying?" the girl asked annoyed, "I know I don't remember much, but I'm not a baby or anything."

"Let me see something," Envy said walking to the girl. Envy raised his fist in the air and bought it down hard on the girl's head.

"Envy!" Melody shouted after hearing bones crack. She ran up to the girl and him. The girl hadn't even flinched only glared hard up at Envy. Envy pulled back his broken hand and saw that there wasn't a mark on the girl.

"It's going to take more than that to hurt me," she said, "I can contract my atoms to make myself dense or expand them to walk through walls," she bragged.

"Just as I thought, you're a homunculous and you seem to be a Greed," Envy concluded as his hand healed. The girl looked confused again and so did Melody.

"I'll show you," he said morphing back into his usual outfit and showing her his ouroborous.

"Hey, that's the same mark I have," she said pulling back her sleeve and revealing an ouroborous on her forearm.

"Envy, can you explain everything," Melody asked picking up her bag and grabbing a comb, "I think you should sit down and let him explain and while he's doing that, I'll comb your hair," she said with a smile to the girl.

The girl hesitantly sat down and Melody sat behind her to comb her hair. Envy sat in front of them.

"I guess I'll start from the beginning," he said, "I'm Envy and that's Melody, I'm a homunculous and she's a runaway. Each of the homunculi are a representation of the seven sins and you're the new Greed. The old one had an impenetrable shield on his body made from carbon, your shield works differently so it's weaker but it gives you the additional power of going through solid objects or, if you concentrate enough, making other objects go through things the same way you did with her bag."

"So I can walk through walls while you can morph your clothes?" she asked smugly.

"I can change my whole appearance," Envy said and changed into her.

"My power's still better," she said.

Envy changed back, "You're definitely Greed 'cause I really don't like you."

"I don't want my name to be Greed," she said.

"Well that's what you are," Envy said annoyed.

"Well that was someone else's name so I want a different one," she snapped back.

"How about Molly?" Melody asked.

"No," she replied.

"Joan?"

"No."

How can Melody deal with that little demon? Envy thought, Wait...

"What about Luci?" Envy asked with a smug smirk. (Points for you if you can guess why he chose Luci before the end of the chapter.)

"Luci," the girl said, "I like it!"

"I knew you would," he said smugly.

"Done," Melody said as she finished combing Luci's hair. Luci felt it and could feel how much looser it felt.

"T-thanks," she mumbled. Luci wasn't used to showing gratitude; she never had much of a reason to.

Melody got up and grabbed her bag. "I didn't say you could take that!" Luci exclaimed as Melody picked up her music box.

"But it's mine," Melody said calmly, "I stole it myself."

Luci was surprised, "Wait, you're a thief too?"

"Yes, but you're way better," she responded, "The guy I stole from was knocked out, you just steal before some one can notice."

"Don't encourage her!" Envy scolded Melody.

"Yeah, he's right," she says to Luci, "you shouldn't steal but me saying that is hypocritical."

"But the man you stole from deserved it," Envy explained.

"So I should only steal from people who deserve it?" Luci asked.

Melody nodded, "Yeah, I guess that's fair. Only steal from people who deserve it, like my foster father."

"What makes a person worth stealing from then?" Luci questioned.

"Melody's adoptive father abused her so people like him are okay to steal from," said Envy.

"I can deal with that," she says.

"Luci," Melody says, "Promise us that you'll only steal from people who deserve it."

"I promise," Luci says, "I'll only steal from mean people or people who need to be taken down a notch. And starting from now, I promise to never break a promise."

Melody smiled and made her way to the hole in the wall. "Hey," Luci says, "If I let you take your stuff back, can you fix that hole in the wall?"

Envy shifted back to his other outfit, "You need to fix more than that wall in here. This place looks like it's about to collapse."

"That's the point," Luci says, "No one ever comes in here and it's practically impossible to get in since it's all boarded up. No one expects a small girl to be in here."

"Probably 'cause anyone in here is going to get crushed when it falls." As he stepped around, creaking and crunching could be heard.

"He's right," Melody said, "This wall is really weak. One wrong hit will make this whole place collapse." She touched the wall lightly and a stone slipped away. The whole wall began to crumble and the building shook. "Luci! We have to get out of here!" Luci ran in the opposite direction. Envy grabbed Melody's arm and pulled her out into the alley. "Luci!"

The entire building collapsed leaving a giant pile of stones and wooden beams. Luci then walked through it all towards them holding a large sack.

"Well, there goes my only home," Luci said disappointingly.

"We're really sor-" Melody was cut off as angry voices could be heard approaching the alley.

"Damnit, it's the townspeople I stole from." Luci began looking around for a means of escape. A fire escape on the opposite building was seen. Luci jumped up with her bag and began to pull with one hand. She couldn't get up all the way though.

Envy grabbed Melody and jumped up to the landing. "Luci, you have to let go of the bag," Envy said standing over her.

"Are you crazy?! Do you know how much work I put into stealing this stuff?" The voices were getting closer.

"Is it more work than you put into staying alive?" Envy asked back. The voices were steadily coming closer.

"I'm telling you, that thief is hiding in the old building."

"She did go this way."

"There's probably some way to get in from back here."

Luci weighed her options: she could keep the money and find some way to face the crowd, which probably wouldn't end well, or she could drop the bag and live to steal another day. Luci pouted and went for the second choice. She pulled herself up into the fire escape as the group came into the alley. The three ran into yet another abandoned building away from the group.

The three men in the group stopped in front of what used to be an abandoned building. "She must've been crushed under that," one said picking up the bag.

"Too bad," said another, "She must not have had a family if she was living in a place like that."

What? Don't they want me dead? Luci thought. She was extremely confused as the three walked away from the rubble.

"We should get the body after we return the stuff she stole," said the last one as they left.

Luci walked out of the building and slumped forward on the fire escape. Damnit, there goes the only home I ever had and all my money.

"Luci, would you like to come live with us?" Melody asked. Luci turned her head toward her.

"No way!" Envy interrupted, "She's already stolen from us once, who's to say she won't do it again?"

"We can't just leave her alone," Melody argued, "And it's not like you're always around, I barely know where you are half the time."

"Yes we can, she can take care of herself just fine."

"Why are you being such a jerk?!"

"Why are you being so naive?!"

"Last time I checked, it was my money."

"And last time I checked, she just stole your money."

"N-"

"The answer is 'no'", Luci said flatly, cutting Melody off. She stood up and gave them a proud smile, "Just because this home is gone, doesn't mean I can't find another on my own. Plus, I can take care of myself just like you said. I'll be fine, so see'ya!" Luci pulled herself to the roof top and ran off before Melody could protest.

Wait, was I just arguing with Envy? Melody asked herself, And I was about to say...! Melody jumped back and bowed to Envy, "I'm so sorry for starting that argument!" _I can't believe that I even thought of saying something so cold! "Now I know what you meant by you don't have a soul!"_ That's more of what she was apologizing for.

"I should be the one apologizing," Envy said, "And you shouldn't worry about Luci, she can take care of herself and isn't as naive as you are." _But I believe that she is growing a backbone._

Melody had to laugh a little since she knew it was true, "It wasn't her being able to take care of herself that I was worried about. I just didn't want her to be alone." Envy gave her a confused glance, "Well, I know what it's like to be alone and I didn't think that Luci should feel that."

Envy made his way to the fire escape, "Don't worry, this isn't the last time we'll see her, she seemed to really like your music box." Envy climbed down and Melody followed. It was twilight now and most people in the market earlier were gone now. Melody had to rush around the shops with Envy in tow in order to get what she needed before all the shops closed.

The stars were out by the time the two were making their way to a hotel. "Hey Envy," Melody said suddenly.

"Hm?"

"How did you know that Luci would like her name?" Envy chuckled to himself, "Envy?" Melody gave him a glare, or tried to at least.

"OK, Ok. 'Luci is derived from 'Lucifer', the king of demons. So I basically just called her a demon queen."

"Hey!" Luci was walking up to the two. Her hair was tucked under a red hat and she was holding a flyer. "For your information, I'm not a demon queen, I'm _the_ demon queen." She gave them a cocky smirk.

"What's with the hat?" Envy asked.

"Everyone here thinks I'm dead, so it's best to keep it that way. But that's not what I wanted to show you; I thought that you'd want to see this." She handed them the flyer.

Amber Alert it read, Melody Corsen, adoptive daughter of Henry and Marie Corsen, has recently been abducted. Henry Corsen reported that an unknown assailant broke into their home and knocked him out with a blunt object when the abduction took place. Said assailant stole $8,000 in cash before fleeing the scene with Melody. Marie came home from a business trip to find her husband with a wound to his head and bleeding badly. Their daughter was nowhere in sight. Melody is 16 with very light silver hair and purple eyes...

They stopped reading then. The flyer didn't have a picture, but it was hard to miss a teen aged girl with silver hair and purple eyes. "So that's the excuse he thought of in order to save his pride," concluded Melody, "Well played."


	3. Chapter 3

"Here's your order, sir," said a red-haired waitress, as she set down the man's plate, "Call me if you need anything else."

The redhead turned to walk away, showing a very short skirt, "I know something you can help me with." He reached out his hand, but was grabbed roughly by the wrist. A short-haired, brunette waitress glared down at him.

"We would really like it if you kept your hands to yourself and your meal," poison was laced in her voice. The man could only nod, the brunette's demeanor changed instantly, "Thank you, and enjoy your meal!" She let go of his arm and smiled sweetly.

The brunette went off to help the redhead clear a table. "What would you do without me, Alice?" Alice just gave her a confused look, the brunette sweatdropped, She has no idea what just happened, does she?

"Evelyn. you got table 5!" Called the manager.

"Got it!" the brunette, Evelyn, called back. She adjusted the corset on her uniform. The waitress uniforms all had black skirts connected to a corset that went over a long-sleeved, off-shoulder blouse. Along with that were black ballet flats with lace up to the knee and the employee's choice of cat or bunny ear headbands. Evelyn had chosen cat while Alice went bunny.

Evelyn walked over to the table with her pad and pen in hand, "Hello, is there anything I can get you?"

"Chocolate and strawberry parfait," answered the young girl. She had black hair that came just above her shoulders and green eyes. The waitress left and came back later with a chocolate and strawberry parfait.

"So much sugar's gonna turn you into a Gluttony, Luci," teased Evelyn.

"Who cares? I just want my parfait." Evelyn set down the dessert and Luci proceeded in eating. "I'm surprised that none of you are the least bit curious as to how a 12 year old can afford a parfait a day."

"None of us really care as long as the money's real."

"Evelyn, can you help me with table three?" Called Alice.

"You should get going, 'Evelyn'," Luci air quoted the name.

Evelyn snorted in a very unlady-like fashion and bent down to whisper in Luci's ear, "If you give us away, I will snap little your neck." She walked off.

"Is that any way to talk to a customer?!" Luci called. She quickly finished her parfait and left the money on the table, with no tip.

She began walking through the town like she did every time she ate at the cafe. "This place is so boring!" She whined. As an ex-thief, Luci was used to mapping out the area in her head, so she had the layout of the town embedded in her mind after only a few days.

It was no fun walking around a town alone. Alone, she thought, just like when I was a thief. Luci quickly shook the thought from her head, This is nothing like back then, I still have Melody and Envy that I can visit practically anytime. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her red hoodie dress with a black bunny in the corner of the skirt, "This is nothing like then, so quit being such a whiny bi-"

Luci was cut off as a man on a bike nearly mowed her down and she landed flat on her butt. "Watch where you're going you ass!" She yelled after him. He kept riding and Luci could hear shouts coming from where he was. Ah, this takes me back. A runaway thief in action. She picked herself up and began to run in the direction of the thief, but then ran into an alley. _If I'm right, he'll fake them out and end up at the alley up ahead. Then he'll ride down this way, all I have to do is stop him._

Luci began to look for something that could block his path and found a large dumpster on wheels. She hid behind it and could tell that it would be hard to push by leaning on it. Judging by his speed and the distance, he'll be here in about three minutes, I better start pushing. Luci began to push and the dumpster inched forward slowly. But it wasn't moving fast enough to be able to catch the man in time. "Come on, move," she groaned, "at this rate, I'll miss him."

Bicycle wheels and a chain could be heard getting closer, and at the last possible minute, an extra weight was added to the dumpster, making it roll forward onto the sidewalk. The man slammed into the dumpster and crumbled to the ground.

"Victory!" Luci shouted, pumping both fists into the air. She ran out to roll the man over with her foot and set the bike up.

"You're just gonna take his bike?" Luci tried not to jump, hearing the sudden boy's voice. He had brown hair tied up and a red coat.

"Sure, that's the only reason why I stopped him." The boy gave her a look full of disappointment. "It's not like he's doing anything good with the bike, he's using it to steal, and I don't think he'll stay knocked out for long so taking his bike will keep him from getting far away."

"But doesn't it belong to the police now?"

"They don't care about the bike, they want the man and the money." The boy still looked unconvinced, "I'm taking the bike either way, so just try to stop me," Luci said with her free hand on her hip.

The boy was going to retort, but his expression changed to one of fear, "Look out!" He grabbed Luci's wrist and pulled her to him, making her drop the bike.

"You little bitch!" The man was up and had a knife. He swung at the two, making them split up. The man kept coming at Luci, swinging the knife as she dodged each swipe. Luci didn't even notice when she was getting too close to the building in back of her and was cornered. The man raised the knife, but was stuck in his cheek and knocked to the side.

The boy with the red coat was behind him holding a lead pipe. He had the bike set up, "Come on!" He called, swinging his leg over the bike. Luci kicked the thief man right between the legs before getting on the back of the bike. She held on to the boy's waist as he sped off.

"See, the bike just saved our lives. I should keep it," said Luci. The boy chuckled as he kept riding at top speed. He soon began to slow from lack of breath. He kept pedaling at a leisurely pace, panting all the way.

"My name's Alphonse," He managed to get out.

"I'm Luci, and thanks... for not leaving me behind."

"Why would I do that?"

"There was a psycho with a knife coming at me and you already had the bike. I actually expected you to run off without me." Luci felt something dripping on her hands. Alphonse had a cut on the back of his hand and the blood was dripping to where Luci had her hands wrapped around his waist. "Stop the bike."

"What?" Alphonse stopped and Luci got off, "What's wrong?" Luci took Alphonse's hand so he could see the cut. "Oh, it's just a little cut, probably happened when he swung his knife at me the first time." He smiled at her, "It's no big deal."

"Either way, I don't like people getting hurt because of me." With that, Luci untied one of the wristbands that she was wearing. She put it on Alphonse's cut and tied it tight.

"I came to help you of my own free will, I've gotten into worse trouble before."

"That reminds me, how in the hell did you get into that alley without me noticing you? There's only one way in or out, I would have seen you."

"I made a back entrance," he replied, holding up his hands. The palms of the gloves he wore had intricate circles in the center. "I saw you go off that way in a hurry, so I went but got lost and made an entrance through one of the walls." Alphonse chuckled a little. "So are you still keeping the bike?"

"Well duh," Luci said with her hands on her hips, Alphonse gave her a strange look, "Well it's his own fault for using a bike as a getaway vehicle. He's a grown man, he should either use a car or his feet."

Alphonse got off the bike, "It's getting late, teacher's gonna worry."

"In that case, I'll be taking this," Luci grabbed the handlebars from Alphonse and began to walk the bike. "Seeya, Al!" She waved to him as she left. "Now all I have to do is figure out how to ride this thing."

Luci kept walking her new bike when she finally noticed something, "Wait, which wristband did I give him?!" She panicked for a moment before she realized that it was her right wristband. Her left one still covered her ouraborus. "Envy's gonna lecture me nonstop about this. 'Don't let anyone see your tattoo,' he said." An idea came to her and she got on the bike.

"Hey Evelyn, where do you think Luci went?" asked Alice. The cafe was closing up and they were back in their usual clothes. Alice wore a sleeveless pink turtleneck with white sleeves on her forearms and jeans.

"Hard to tell with that girl," Evelyn responded as the two walked back to Alice's apartment. She wore a black halter top with a jean skirt and black leather boots. "But you shouldn't worry about her, she probably just found some jerk to steal from or something."

"Yeah, but even when that happens, she's usually back by the time the cafe closes." Evelyn had to consider that for a minute, _Now that I think about it, she's right. Did Luci get herself into trouble?And she actually timed out Luci's schedule, she must care about her a lot, enough to even get so worked up over her not staying._

"Hey Evelyn," Alice snapped her out of her thoughts, seeing her distress, "You know, I haven't seen Envy in a while. Since before I got my job, to be exact."

"He's still around, I'm sure of it." Evelyn decided to go along with it, "Probably just hasn't felt the need to come out."

"Out of the way!" Someone shouted. Evelyn and Alice split apart just in time before Luci rushed past on a bike. "How do you stop this thing?"

"Pull the levers on the handlebars!" Alice instructed. Luci did just that and swerved the bike to keep from ramming into a street lamp.

"Yes! I finally know how to ride this," Luci said to herself. You could see that it had taken her sometime to learn from all the scrapes on her arms and legs.

"So that's what you've been doing all day. I was kinda worried when you didn't come back at your usual time," Alice said.

"What happened to your wrist band?" Evelyn noticed that one was missing.

"Huh?" Luci held her wrist, "Must've lost it when I fell earlier." She held up the wrist to show them that it wasn't the one with the ouraborus. "It's not the important one anyway."

"Still, be more careful with those," Evelyn told her, "Don't just go losing them."

"Yeah, yeah mom. I'm gonna go ride this more." Luci took off on the bike riding a little wobbly until she was out of their sight. It worked! She thought. Luci began to straighten up and rode like a pro, the same way she saw the thief and Al do.

Alice walked into her apartment and turned on the radio. She was listening to a station that she really liked until it was interupted by Breaking News.

"After one month, there is still no sign of Melody Corsen. Since her abduction by an unknown assailant, she has been missing. Melody was supposedly last spotted by shopkeepers in the town of Cinderine. She was seen with a green-haired male, approximately 18. Her foster parents, Henry and Marie, are worried sick about her."

The second the last statement came out, Alice had thrown a bottle at the radio, knocking it off the counter. "'Worried sick' my ass," she snarled.

"You know throwing stuff at your problems won't make them go away," said a sudden voice. Envy was sitting on the window sill and Luci was lounging on the couch. "At least not all the time." He jumped down and closed the window.

"Envy, I haven't seen you in a while." Alice's mood instantly shifted. Envy bent to pick up the bottle.

"You're out of dye and your roots are starting to show," he said holding the empty container.

Alice ran into the bathroom to look in the mirror. Envy was right, silver strands of hair were visible near her scalp. "The only store that sells dye is closed right now," Luci said.

"By the way," Alice (you know who she really is) said, "When did you get in here?"

"I came in after you did, through your bedroom window." Alice sighed.

"Either way, you need more dye and we both work tomorrow. I'll have to get some during 'Evelyn's' lunch break. If you go then someone may find out that your're not a natural redhead, and someone may put two and two together with your purple eyes."

"Why can't you just send me?" Luci asked.

"Would you trust yourself with money?"

"Good point."

"The reward for finding Melody Corsen is currently $10,000. For information on Melody or the man she was last with, call..."

"Is that why you haven't been around much?" Melody/Alice asked.

Envy nodded, "For now, just stay as 19-year-old Alice and I'll be Evelyn."

"But for how long?"

Meanwhile...

"$10,000, eh?" Said one of the three.

"You'd think a girl with silver hair would stick out like a sore thumb." This man was reading an alchemy book as he talked.

"What if she dyed it?" said the last, "I remember a waitress from a cafe I was at today, she was really cute-"

"Get to the point," the first one interrupted. He had black hair, tied back and blue eyes.

"I was getting to that, Jess. I think that I saw some silver in her roots. What if she's a runaway and not kidnapped?"

"Are you saying that the waitress you met was Melody Corsen?" Jess asked.

"She had purple eyes like they said."

The one with the alchemy book put his book down and ran his hand through his brown hair. "She's not gonna want to go back if that's true."

The first smiled, "Then we'll take her by force."

* * *

**Hey! You may not have been expecting this to continue. I'm really sorry for leaving this story alone for so long, it won't happen again, promise. And I do have this story planned out and plan to see it through til the end. So if you liked this chapter, please fav, review, or even follow if you want. I'll be back soon with a new chapter so see you then!**


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